Sushi is one of those things that had to grow on me. Being raised up in the midwest and not stepping foot into an ocean until I was 20; it just wasn’t something that many people ate near me. Raw fish? ick.
Fast forward to today – I can’t get enough of it and I’m damn picky about how it’s made and where I eat it. I’ll hunt for the whole-in-the-walls with fresh fish and smile all the way home.
This brings us to a video from Munchies on Vice. Sushi Master Naomichi Yasuda teaches us the proper way to eat sushi.
1. Use your fingers to eat cut sushi rolls
I don’t know the full ‘legality’ here when it comes to the crazy Americanized rolls with all the crap on it; but if you’re eating those you’re not being that traditional as it is, so keep doing that how you do.
2. Don’t combine ginger and sushi
Who does that? Ginger is meant to cleanse your palate between bites. Let me add, since it wasn’t mentioned in the video, that you should not be adding ginger to shoyu (soy sauce) or, worst yet, mixing your green-died horseradish into soy sauce. Unless you’re paying a lot of money and had to wait to get into the place; or you specifically asked for it; what you think is wasabi… isn’t. You’ll know the difference once you’ve had the grated plant stem, which by the way only grows in Japan.
3. Flip sushi to the left and dip fish-side down into shoyu
Neta (fish) only into the shoyu kids. I’m going to be honest here and say that, until now, I wasn’t aware I was doing this one wrong. I’ve always done rice-side down. I suck, I know. But hey I learned something. Also note this is Nigiri style sushi (Nigirizushi) – the OG version of sushi. You eat this in one bite – none of this biting in half bullshit – it’s meant to be one bite. And as far as I know it’s cool to eat Nigirizushi with your hands too; but not Sashimi.
4. Never shake shoyu off of sushi
He says shaking is only for the men when they’re finished in the mens room. Never a bad time for a dick joke you know? This is one of those customary things. It’s like sticking your chopsticks into a bowl of rice with the ends sticking up – don’t do it! (why? because it’s part of the funeral ceremony – bad form of you to do so).
One more thing I’d like to add – when you get a bowl of miso soup; don’t use or ask for a spoon. Pick that bowl up and get to work. It’s okay to slurp (I hate it tho) and use the chopsticks to pull out the chunky bits but don’t use a spoon.
That’s all the video touched on along with a couple insights from my spin around the block learning some of the customs and eating at some damn proper places.
Anyway – now you know. I hope you learned something. Especially if that means you’re buying sushi next time we hang out! I’m always down. See you at the sushi bar!
Conversation Continues at
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